Pugwash

Proposals are afoot to drastically change how Southwark Housing is managed in Southwark.Local area housing offices like Crown House in East Dulwich Road may be closed and 2 or 3 large offices created. It is proposed that southern Southwark be served with one Housing Office based in Queens Road Peckham. Many of the Housing managers are said to be losing their jobs due to budget cuts and the role of housing officers are to be changed. Southwark Housing are to be consulting tenants about the proposals but some housing staff we have spoken with think this is just 'window dressing' and decisions have been made already. Around this time of year, your local tenants and residents' associations will be holding their AGMs, and those which are recognised by the council will be able to send 2 representatives to the local area housing forums. The Barry Area Residents' Association covers all properties in the area bordered by Friern Road from Upland to Lordship Lane (The tall blocks of flats belong to the Friern T and RA)and Crystal Palace Road from Lordship Lane to North Cross/Upland Roads and the roads in between ( Landells, Hindmans, Darrell,Etherow, Norcroft Gds, Rycott Path, Barry,Upland/Underhill and Plough Lane. LL between CP Rd and Friern). If you are a Southwark Council tenant or leaseholder and within BARA's area you may wish to be more involved in having a say about housing issues. You are welcome to come along to the AGM on 12th April at 8 pm East Dulwich Community Centre,Darrell Road and volunteer to be on our committee.

These properties were originally owned by Southwark council and went to an ALMO I believe. I do know that lenders have been wary about giving mortgages for ex council flats as I have heard that they are not happy with the soundness of the structures as often neglected in the past. Also if you buy a leasehold ex local authority home you could end up with massive bills as if there are repairs/redecoration/modernisation to the estate, you as a leaseholder will have to pay a share. Sometimes the bills come as high as a mortgage.

Not sure how this is done - I assume that this is likely to be a charge by the undertakers rather than the boroughs. Heard last week of someone's son who died in Sussex and needed to be buried in Brenchley Gardens - bill was almost ?9000 due to the distance - she was also informed of the additional county/district boundaries costs - hence the high bill

There is a mother and toddler group at Christ Church - I believe it is on a Thursday.

Such a tragedy . This must be every parent's nightmare when they see their kids off to school each morning. Driving today down Barry Road, a 12 bus was collecting passengers and could not be overtaken as another bus was coming in the opposite direction. From the pavement woman with a primary age child ran in front of my car and was about to dash across the road when some instinct made her look to her left and saw the other bus drawing level - had she not looked at that point both she and the child would have been seriously injuried. If she had been hit - the bus driver would not have been at fault.

When my father in law died suddenly 9 years ago, I did some phoning around for both cremation and burials ( he wanted burial) Cheapest burial 9 years ago was ?3000 - dearest ?5000 - hearse and one car. We settled for a cremation which was under ?2000 with just the hearse. I am going to my mother's funeral tomorrow - she had a funeral plan via Age Concern for ?2500 just a hearse. Having died in St. Christopher's in Bromley, we had to register the death there even though she lived in Lewisham. Had she wanted to be buried we would have had to pay extra to use brenchley gardens (the family grave is there) as a non resident of Southwark. However, if cremated you can choose your crematorium, but pay for each county/borough boundary the body has to pass through.

Hubby normally wears glasses and has special goggles from optician with prescription lens. he said that nobody in Dulwich or Peckham Pulse has ever asked him to remove goggles.If they did he will inform them that since his eyesight is poor it could be regarded as a disability and that the goggles are essential for his safety and also other swimmers.

I would have a little more sympathy with the some of the comments, but feel that the misuse of the disabled parking spaces causes greater problems. Until her recent death, my mother was wheelchair bound and we used to take her shopping each week. The misuse of blue badges is widespread in car parks - not able to find a disabled bay causes mobility impaired shoppers much more inconvienance. Have you tried to get someone with restricted mobility in both arms and legs out of a car door which cannot be opened fully and hold a wheelchair in place for them to sit in without having to step backwards/forewards. The only way it can be done is park halfway up the space, grab wheelchair from car, open out, get Mum out- making sure that open chair is no more than a foot away from car seat to allow weight bearing only, pull chair back with Mum, find suitable place to park mum and chair, jumo back in car to park correctly. Hope that Mum and chair have not been run over by other cars and dash to store to find they have have no disabled shopping trolleys. Add this to snow and ice, where you need several hands and arms to lift Mum out of car into chair as store has not thought to clear away ice (especially in disabled bays) and you have difficulty standing up etc.

If I recall correctly, when the DK Hill estate was being revamped, some of the properties were sold off to another organisation to help fund the refurbishment and some were going to be given to a Housing Association to run. I would imagine that these properties were originally right to buy properties and leasehold and that the owners may have died/gone into a care home. Southwark Council may have become Deputies under Court of Protection to manage this person's finances which would also include selling any property to pay care home fees.

Gumboots After School Club run a summer holiday scheme for 4 weeks in August for children 5 - 11 years. It is held at the East Dulwich Community Centre. Not sure what the costs are.

Music and O do not go, he could have a go on his Dad's guitar but is not interested. also daughter does not have the money for lessons. He is allowed his DS at weekends but not during the week/schooldays.

I think it is a mixture of the handwriting not being easily read/understood and the concentration needed for him to improve on this. he does have 'hand writing or rather letter formations. for homework at times and have slots for this during the school week. Daughter does not want his 'boredom' to become disruption as she knows he can be a handful at times. He is very chatty and will talk at length about something that interests him - I can imagine that he needs firm but fair 'control' to allow the other kids to have a say. His big sister's report is that she is too quiet in class and he is the opposite

As a local authority worker - we have been informed that our pay will be frozen - would rather have a job than increased pay. My colleagues and I work in health and social care, and it will be upto us to tell people that they will not get the level of services they are used to, and we as front line staff already get verbal abuse from some people who think they/their relative deserves more. On colleague talks in terms of cakes - you have one party cake the more people that want cake - the smaller the slice, you either have a small slice, pay alot extra for another cake, or have no cake at all.

Glad to see some common sense has now prevailed. I have a mixed race step daughter (Black/part Polish/white British)whose mother (Black Carribean) objected to her daughter being exposed to Black History as it was 'not relevant' to her. Stepdaughter grew up in a predominantly white area, where she was the only black/mixed race child in her school. It was left to me and her father to encourage her to explore her cultural back ground. Yet despite having a mixed race child, if hubby and I wanted to foster or adopt a mixed race child, as 2 white people we would have been refused. As we have friends from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, a fostered child would have a wide exposure to all religions ( we have Muslim and Buddist friends as well as Christians) all ethnic backgrounds, with many mixed race partnerships and had a loving home.

Our 7 year old grandson has come along in leaps and bounds since he has started school, but daughter was surprised at last weeks parents evening as to how he had progressed. It seems as though from a slow start his reading and comprehension has taken off and he is now the top reader in his year of 60 children. School has stated that he is exceptionally bright in all areas except his handwriting and that he will only concentrate on this if he is writing about a subject that holds his interest. Daughter has been advised to work with him at home on his concentration and handwriting. He is a very active child - loves football, his passion is animals and his knowledge of wild life etc is that equal to a secondary age child. Any tips on how to increase his concentration span and also improve handwriting. His parents do not have the money for private tuition, he has just started attending Beavers and also goes to football training twice a week. Apparently his language skills are very advanced for his age and he often tells the teacher that he is bored in class ( usually as he has finished his work ahead of others).Daughter lives in Bromley area - her older child did well with Kuman Maths and English, but O.is not the sort that would sit down and work through the worksheets. Any ideas gratefully received

Southwark Council like most other authoritys is a mixture of good and bad staff, those who are helpful and those who could not care less.It is also provides reasonable services on the whole My stepmother lives in West Sussex and a couple of years ago was in hospital for several weeks as a result of a fall. She had to pay for a taxi to take her home (?35) as the PCT would only provide hospital transport if people were in wheelchairs. She walks with a zimmer frame in the house and needs a wheelchair for outside. She was provided with 3 days help from social services as could not bend, cook food, do shopping or get to the bank, could do limited personal care. When it was found that she received an occupational pension as well as a state pension, all services were withdrawn by social services as they informed her that they could not continue to provide services as she was in receipt of a private pension. She now pays ?12 ph for a cleaner ( W. Sussex state they do not provide a cleaning service) if it was not for a neighbour who works in the local Co Op, she would have had to pay a similiar amount per hour for someone to shop for her. Since she lives in a small town and has used the same Nat West bank for years, the bank manager calls personally at her home once a month to give her cash from her pension. There is no Dial a Ride, the nearest shopping area is Chichester 8 miles away ( Return bus fare ?6) She struggles with undertaking personal care but has been unable to take a bath as needs one person to assist getting on and off bath seat. She lives in a Tory controlled area - a very rich area but services are nowhere as good as London. Be thankful for what we have - ( or what we will have left after the cuts)

James - I suggest that one of the alternative ways of saving money is to increase debt collection from those Southwark Residents who have not paid rent/council tax/community care charges. There are obviously some people who genuinely do not have the money or have not claimed the appropriate benefits - there needs to be more staff able to visit these residents and help them claim benefits. Community Care Charges - Lewisham Social Services send a letter to all those receiving community care services and arrange to visit them at home within 6 weeks to complete a financial assessment form. They also have welfare rights training and can get additional benefits for those who have not claimed. Officers can also identify those residents who need practical help in form filling and managing money and can alert the appropriate services.

The Lordship Lane Surgery - Dr. Doha's, came last in the GP satisfaction list recently published

I went in the old St. Chris Shop once and the place was crowded and items a bit tatty.When my mother in law died, I took a couple of sacks of good clothing, hardly worn to the shop and was told that they were not accepting donations as they had too much stuff to sift through. I ended up talking them to the MIND shop and one other shop in Beckenham. Eldest daughter buys all her clothes in a charity shop in Petts Wood - she gets good stuff there for less than a fiver - some of it Monsoon and Next

Yes James is one of the best. Having attended most Dulwich Community Council since they started, James and his LD colleagues have represented their wards well. Pity more councillors do not take time to seek their local community's views on line. James - do council officers love or hate you asking so many questions!!

When are we going to see improvements to the traffic lights up by the harvester - Lewis Robinson did mention last year that TFL (I think) we going to improve safety at this dangerous junction,

having seen the programme on C4 tonight - I think this sounds like a good scheme - I am sure even the busiest of us all can sign up for 4 hours a month.

I have always told my kids that you cannot take from society unless you are prepared to give. Hubby and I have done Voluntary work since the late 1970s - it keeps me sane!. We do it because we enjoy being with people of a similar mind. Over the years I, along with others, have been asked to take someone 'under our wing', - the shy, depressed Asian mother who had a series of miscarriages and who was finding it difficult to marry her westernised ideas with that of her culture. This lady is now running her own organisation, meets people from all walks of life and has received many awards for her work. Over the years my kids have become involved in voluntary work - one worked as an unpaid assistant on a stroke unit in her local hospital - a decision which eventually lead to her retraining for a professional qualification. The other - primarily works with disabled children and teenagers as a voluntary drama and youth worker. Also is part of a youth project (Worthing Media) - a drama group for teenagers and young people who are coached in film making. This daughter also works in a paid capacity with young people with behavioural and learning disabilities. I always remember many years ago a work colleague was complaining about the cost of Christmas and that her son wanted a particular computer/computer game costings hundreds. It would seem that in order for their children to have 'equal status' amongst their friends, the family were frequently putting themselves into debt in purchasing expensive presents. Many young people and also some adults have been caught up in the'gimme,gimme ' trap and equate money/expensive goods with happiness. This I believe is the basis of many of the crimes now committed - 'if I cannot afford to have the latest phone why should he'. Many parents are afraid of setting boundaries for their kids - from simple things like table manners, times of coming home at night, respect for property and other people. There is a word called 'no'. Teenagers will rant and rave at these so called restriction but the majority will eventually see sense. I had to laugh when my eldest daughter complained about the stroppiness of her near teen daughter, and asked how I put up with her as a teenager as she remembered she was far worse. She complimented me and her Dad by saying you gave me rules, which I hated, but I stuck to them and I fully appreciate now, as a parent, that you were both fair, reasonable and always willing to talk and be there for me. ( I must admit I shed a tear after that). To me the basis of a community must always be mutual respect, to seek the goodness or good points in others, praise effort and determination and to see others as individuals. One of the posts talked about young offenders making things for sale - being praised for doing something selfless and for a good cause.

When I was training I worked in another SE London Borough in the Fostering and Adoption Team. There was a heated debate when a couple of children needed long term fostering who were Asian Muslim. The borough did not have any Asian Muslim Foster Parents but had a single white woman who was Muslim. There was heated discussion as to whether the children's ethnicity or their religion was the most important. The children were later placed with Asian Hindus. Many children in care have had traumatic lives and tend to be of school age, it takes a special person/couple who could cope with often emotionally unstable children who may make their lives hell for a year or more until they learn to trust their adoptive parents.

This is a Forum where everyone is entitled to their views- regardless of political inclinations. Agree with James and others that the Free meals is a joke. I think Labour would have scored more highly if they stated that they would provide free cereal, toast and fruit breakfasts for all primary children. I think the kids are more likely eat this than the lunches and it would be cheaper.(My grandson has breakfast at his pre school club for 50p) MOW - not many people like these, and there is a lot of wastage. However it is the only means by which many can get a hot cooked meal. However if Southwark Council Officers chase up all the debts outstanding to Southwark by it's residents, there will be money to reduce the number of cuts. If you think of all those unpaid rents, community care charges, client contributions for care homes, council tax etc - they must add up to a few million. There will be people who are genuinely unable to pay their debts - many elderly who are entitled to Housing Benefit and other benefits but have not claimed, but equally there are others who delight in cheating the system. Do the high paid very senior council officers really earn their money? Does Susanna White and Annie Sheppard deserve their salaries? Cutting or redesigning Youth Services at a time when more young people are out of work and some being drawn into crime. The previous Labour administration closed our local youth club and it took the power of local residents, with the help of the Police and local Lib Dem councillors to get it reopened - it is once again under threat. Cutting grants to Age Concern who provide a large number of day centres and other services to the elderly of Southwark - - this 'voluntary agency/charity' represents the very concerns that David Cameron talks about in his Big Society debates - the local council passing down to local/voluntary/charities to run services on their behalf.